There’s one shot in the film I wanted to bring up that I’ve always found striking. It’s after young Michael is apprehended on Halloween night. The camera moves through the crime scene and everything is frozen in place. We pan over to Michael in the back seat of a police cruiser and he turns to face camera. It’s a fantastic shot.
That was good, wasn’t it? We tried a similar shot of the asylum as they’re driving up to it. The kid playing Michael Myers had such an expressive face. They say the artistry of cinematography is in landscapes, but the landscape of that kid’s face was just great. I don’t know what Rob said to him before that scene, but he was perfect in it. That shot works based on the irony of the innocence on his face against the horrible things that he’s just done. That’s what makes it so powerful. It’s as much about his performance as it is anything technical we did, in my opinion.
Are there any shots you especially liked in the film?
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I remember liking the first reveal of Smith’s Grove, which is like a crane-up shot. It was a foggy night. The shot was really kind of simple, but I liked it. The location wasn’t an actual asylum, of course, but just a regular building we dressed a little. We put these huge searchlights on top of it and used fog filters. I also enjoyed shooting the interiors of that location as well. Another good place to shoot at was the Myers house exterior, particularly at nighttime.
I know Rob has mentioned numerous times how difficult Halloween’s production was. What were some of your own challenges on the film?
My biggest challenge on the film was Rob himself because he was under so much pressure. That pressure eventually began to seep down onto me. We both had such a ball shooting The Devil’s Rejects, but he was under too much stress from the Weinsteins. He would come into work already exhausted by their studio politics. I don’t even know the full extent of what was going on with them. I just know that he was being worn down by things that were unfolding outside of the production. I quickly recognized that his general demeanor on Halloween was not like it was before. Something had clearly changed. He was almost a different person on Halloween and I always attributed that to his conflicts with the Weinsteins.
Not that we didn’t have problems on set as well. We certainly did. I remember one day we had a condor, which is a mobile lighting device on a huge crane, accidentally back through the front door of the Myers house.
I suppose it makes sense that The Devil’s Rejects would be a more relaxed production. Those were his own characters he was returning to. With something more established like Halloween, the expectations are going to be much higher.
Right. Not to mention, The Devil’s Rejects also had a much lower budget than Halloween. The bigger your budget gets, the more people with their fingers in the pie. And the more people with fingers in the pie, the less artistic control you have over things. That’s not an easy thing for someone like Rob, who is such an original artist. It makes for a terribly conflicted situation where he’s got people telling him what he can and cannot do. That shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone given the reputation the Weinsteins had working with other filmmakers. I’ve met them a couple of times, but I’m fortunate in that I haven’t had any direct dealings with them. From what I hear, law enforcement doesn’t find them to be very pleasant either.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween wound up having an awful lot of deleted and alternate scenes. Did it ever feel like you might’ve been overshooting during the original production?
No, not really. There was only one time I thought we were overshooting. It was a scene inside a car between Dr. Loomis and Sheriff Brackett. We drove around for two hours with them just going completely off-script. They were improvising different lines with one another. We were just burning through filmstock. I’m not even sure we used any of that in the final film, maybe a couple of lines. With 35mm film, you can almost hear the dollar signs running through the camera. When you shoot digital, it doesn’t cost you anything, even if you walk away and forget to turn the camera off. If you do that with film, you’re spending $5,000 or more per five-minute roll. Something else we might’ve overshot were these 8mm home movies of young Michael and his mother. Those appeared briefly in the movie when she’s watching them alone on the couch after he’s been caught.
What was your impression of how the remake was received by audiences and fans?
My impression is that a lot of people were down on it. I felt it was unfairly dissed. I don’t read too much of what the critics have to say. I’m also not that interested in different interpretations of it to tell you the truth. It’s fine that they interpret it, but so often people read things into movies that aren’t there. That happens on lots of movies. People can read things into what you’ve created that have very little or nothing to do with what you meant to say.
My hope is that people will judge our Halloween based on its own merits, not those of the original film. Yes, there’s always a commercial reason to remake something, but there’s also an artistic opportunity there as well. You’ve got a chance to put a new spin on something old and familiar. So I wish people in general would stop judging remakes solely against the original films. If you came to our Halloween expecting the original film, then why come at all? Stay at home and watch the original. It’ll always be there. But I know that’s not the reality of it. People are fans and they’re going to compare it. I am glad when I hear that people liked it, however. I wish it had gotten more accolades than it did.
FILM: ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN II
Upon release, Rob Zombie’s Halloween was met with mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and fans alike. While it may have divided public opinion, it undeniably conquered the Labor Day box office with over $30 million in ticket sales, an all-time record it still holds as of this writing. Not since Halloween 4 nearly thirty years earlier had a Halloween sequel opened in the number one spot at the box office. The remake would go on to gross an impressive $80 million worldwide, not counting home video sales. With those numbers, a sequel was all but guaranteed.
Frustrated over his dealings with the Weinstein Company, Zombie made it crystal clear he had no interest in returning for Halloween II. This led the studio to field various pitches from numerous writers, none of which advanced very far. By mid-2008, French filmmakers Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo emerged as the frontrunners to write and direct Halloween II. Miramax had recently released the duo’s debut feature, Inside, to rave reviews. This gained the filmmakers favorable standing within the company. Oddly enough, they had just departed Dimension’s long stalled Hellraiser reboot to work on a follow-up to Halloween ‘07.
The French duo were seemingly elated with the gig, informing Rue Morgue, “It is an honor for us to do Rob Zombie’s [Halloween] sequel because we are fans of his work. Therefore, our vision will be done with utmost respect, with a continuity of his work but also a real evolution of the world he set in place.” The two men crafted a treatment that, similar to Zombie’s remake, was to have been split into clearly defined acts. The first half would serve as a prequel by following Michael’s teenage years at Smith’s Grove after his mother’s suicide. The second half would then address the ending of the previous film. With Loomis now dead, Laurie and Michael are taken to a local hospital with the latter needing a bullet removed from his skull.
After a brief homage to the original Halloween II, Maury and Bustillo’s take would have trekked new ground by following a damaged Laurie as she comes to terms with her true ancestry. This leads to a bloody battle that would’ve resulted in the character’s death, but not before she dons the mask of her brother. (This, in theory, sounds awfully reminiscent of the final film). The writers would also reveal Laurie’s biological father as being none other than Sheriff Brackett, making her the result of an extramarital affair he had with stripper Deborah Myers.
Maury and Bustillo submitted a draft for the proposed sequel that, according to some, failed to capture the spirit of the Zombie remake. Speaking with Sho
ck Till You Drop, Malek Akkad voiced concerns that something was “lost in translation” with the French filmmakers’ take on a wholly American tradition such as Halloween. On October 31, 2008 at the Halloween: Thirty Years of Terror convention, Akkad officially confirmed that a sequel was moving forward. While this was true, there was about to be a major change in creative leadership.
Two weeks earlier at the Scream Awards in Los Angeles, Rob Zombie crossed paths with Dimension exec Matthew Stein. The filmmaker inquired about the studio’s progress on Halloween II, prompting Stein to divulge their struggle to find a writer with the right vision. Zombie then read one of the proposed drafts for the sequel, which he strongly disliked. Feeling creative authorship over the remake’s characters, Zombie offered to return as writer, director, and producer. He would later explain that the year he spent away from filmmaking on his music career had helped him recuperate from the experience of making Halloween ‘07. Zombie’s return to the series was officially announced in the pages of Variety on December 15, 2008.
RETURNING TO HADDONFIELD
Rob Zombie began work on the screenplay for Halloween II soon after his run-in with Matthew Stein at the Scream Awards. With filming set to begin in February, the sequel spent little time in development. For Zombie, the allure of returning to the franchise was only partly due to his feelings of creative ownership over the characters. He also returned for the opportunity to tell an entirely original story within his remake’s continuity. The filmmaker signaled early on that he had no intention of following in the footsteps of 1981’s Halloween II.
“I would say that the first half of my Halloween is very much a Rob Zombie film,” the filmmaker told Female.com.au. “Every single person I’ve ever talked to about the movie likes the first half better. And that was the part that was original. When it became a remake of the John Carpenter stuff, those were the parts people liked less.”
In making Halloween ‘07, Zombie had earned the trust and respect of series producer Malek Akkad, who considered his return an absolute win for the sequel. Akkad strongly encouraged the writer/director to think outside the box with his follow-up and not to worry about any pre-existing rules – even his father’s hard rule about never killing off Michael Myers. As Akkad told ComingSoon.net during their set visit, Zombie was given carte blanche. “I told him when we started this, ‘Don’t feel hindered by any of the rules we’ve had in the past. I want this to be your vision and I want you to express that vision.’ I think we needed to break out from these rules that have been established over the course of the franchise. His script had a lot more depth to it than a regular slasher film and the credit there goes to him.”
It’s no secret that Zombie faced challenges on Halloween ‘07, most of them related to his dealings with Dimension Films. Unbeknownst to him at the time, his production woes on Halloween II would be far worse. One of the biggest setbacks involved having two weeks slashed from the shooting schedule the day before cameras were set to roll. Zombie was in turn forced to cut several scenes as producers scrambled to reshuffle the production schedule to account for this lost time. Halloween II’s post-production schedule was also unexpectedly slashed when The Weinstein Company announced the sequel’s release date as August 2009 rather than October as Zombie had been led to believe. If only the film’s issues had ended there.
Halloween II’s problems were legion. Georgia’s rainy weather proved a constant source of frustration for the crew. The filmmakers lost an entire night’s work when several canisters of undeveloped film were accidentally x-rayed at the airport. The state’s Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms bureau later forcibly shut down filming over false accusations of an unsafe work environment. Cast member Bill Moseley quit the film without notice after only a day’s work and had to be recast with actor Jeff Daniel Phillips, who was already playing another role in the film. Rob Zombie has even alleged that certain individuals were criminally stealing money from the film’s budget. In short, Halloween II’s production was as nightmarish as the film itself. These difficulties had a huge impact on how to film ultimately came together.
As first written, Zombie’s Halloween II screenplay was a little longer than the film that later reached audiences. It featured additional kills and supporting characters that never actually made it before camera, casualties of the last-minute schedule slashing. Conversely, the final film also contained numerous improvised touches that never appeared in any script.
FAMILY IS FOREVER
Rob Zombie’s Halloween II opens with a flashback to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium shortly after young Michael’s incarceration there. Deborah Myers brings her homesick child a present in the form of a white toy horse. Michael recalls a dream from the previous night of her appearing alongside a white horse promising to bring him home. Trying to comfort him, Deborah tells Michael to think of her whenever he looks at the toy. The sequel then picks up just after Halloween 07’s final moments. Annie and Loomis, both badly injured, are taken to Haddonfield General Hospital for treatment. Sheriff Brackett finds a blood-soaked Laurie wandering while mumbling about having killed someone. She too is taken to Haddonfield General. Michael Myers is presumed dead and loaded into a coroner’s van, which crashes due to wandering cattle. Jolted awake, Michael kills both men and vanishes into the night. At the hospital, Laurie suffers a haunting nightmare that Michael has found her and murdered her caregivers.
Jumping ahead one year later, we find an emotionally troubled Laurie living with the Bracketts. Though his body was never recovered from the wreck, Michael is widely presumed to have died that night. In actuality, he has become a drifter. Dr. Loomis has capitalized on the events of Halloween ‘07 to write another book – The Devil Walks Among Us, which is even more exploitative than his last tome. It also reveals the devastating secret Brackett told him in confidence – that Laurie Strode was born Angel Myers. Loomis embarks on a book tour despite widespread criticism that he is profiting from the pain and misery of others. An already psychologically disturbed Laurie spirals downward upon learning of her true ancestry.
With Halloween’s approach, Michael has begun hallucinating ghostly visions of his mother and of his younger self in a clown costume. These apparitions tell him it’s time to bring their family home – including Angel – and that “only a river of blood can bring us back together.” With this, he begins a new killing spree en route to find his sister. On Halloween night, Laurie goes to “The Phantom Jam,” a wild barn house party where she drinks away her troubles. Michael murders several of Laurie’s friends – including Annie – and kidnaps her to a shack in a vacant field. Laurie’s mental condition has deteriorated so badly that she now sees the same visions that her brother does. Distraught over his daughter’s death, Brackett tracks them down and surrounds the shack with police snipers.
Meanwhile, a series of public embarrassments have helped Loomis to realize what an egomaniac he has become. In a shot at redemption, he rushes to the police standoff upon seeing local news coverage. A furious Brackett demands that he leave, but Loomis breaks past the barricade and enters the shack hoping to save Laurie. Instead, Michael brutally stabs him to death. Brackett manages to fire off a shot that causes Michael to fall back onto farm equipment, fatally impaling him. A tearful Laurie tells Michael that she loves him before stabbing him multiple times. She exits the shack covered in blood and wearing her brother’s mask having now fully succumbed to her family’s madness. The final scene depicts Laurie in a psychiatric facility looking unkempt. She smiles unnervingly upon seeing a hallucination of her mother and a white horse approaching.
“Family is forever,” so reads the posters for Rob Zombie’s Halloween II. While John Carpenter deeply regrets establishing a familial connection between Michael and Laurie, Zombie embraces the idea as a central theme of his two films. The final act of Halloween ‘07 shows Laurie’s past catching up to her in the form of her brother’s murderous rampage. Halloween II revisits the character a year later as she grapples with a past she can neither handl
e nor escape. No amount of therapy, partying, or nurturing environment can change where she’s from or where she’s headed. As Angel Myers, her fate is inevitable. As a drunken Laurie screams, “I’m Michael Myers’ sister! I’m so fucked!”
Zombie’s sequel easily rates as the most savage and emotionally raw entry into the series – for better or worse. Ever defiant, he doubles down on the more controversial qualities of his Halloween ‘07. There are more rednecks, more profanities, and more elements that would otherwise be stylistically out of place in your standard Halloween film. Unlike the 2007 remake, Zombie is now creatively unshackled from all that’s come before. No longer beholden to Carpenter’s original film, he’s able to run wild with the characters and thus chart new territory. For first-time viewers, this makes for a more unpredictable experience as virtually anything can now happen. At its most interesting, Halloween II studies the effects of its predecessor’s ending on the returning characters – Laurie, Annie, Brackett, and Loomis.
At the black heart of this new story is a very much damaged Laurie Strode. Her physical wounds may have healed since Halloween ‘07, but her internal ones are festering. Having lost both parents and several friends, she is overwhelmed by crippling anxiety and uncontrollable mood swings. With this new take on Laurie, Zombie is deconstructing the “final girl” archetype. Sure, she survived that fateful night, but she’s been unable to resume any semblance of a normal life. Halloween II presents the viewer with a wrenching character study of a trauma survivor. No longer the quiet good girl, Laurie parties with reckless abandon in an effort to numb the pain, though it doesn’t work. She is desperate to reinvent herself, to be anyone other than Laurie Strode or, even worse, Angel Myers.
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